Wicca Spirit Newsletter Crafts

Shrine of Universal Living Spirit

Wicca Spirit Newsletter

Magical Prayer Sticks

Categories: Pagan Crafting

[Note: by Ted Andrews]

In some traditions, a feather attached to a specially carved and

painted stick is a powerful way to make an offering and petition to the

spirit world.

The decorated stick represents the message, and the feather calls to

the spirit bird or totem to carry the message to the heavens.

You can make a prayer stick as a unique gift for someone special.

There are no set rules as to length, but the most common prayer sticks

tend to be made from a peeled willow branch. These are often carved,

painted, wrapped with leather or colorful fabric, or otherwise

decorated. All these things can take on special significance by simply

using your intuition or by relying upon a form of symbolism you are

comfortable with.

To activate the prayer stick, your friend need only plant one end of it

in the earth. As the feather flutters in the breeze it activates the

energies of the stick and your friend's prayers will soon be on their

way to the heavens.

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Pagan Prayer Beads

Since the rosary is a prayer ritual dedicated to the Blessed Mother, it has been a no-brainer to former Catholics to redefine either the rosary itself or similar concepts of prayers to the Goddess using prayer beads.

Repetition was the earliest from of prayer. And prayer beads (or ropes) have not been exclusive to Catholics, many religions have used prayer beads. Many numbers of beads have been used in these including 150, 100, 81, 50 or 33 beads.

Tibetan Malas (Buddhist, Hindu) prayer beads usually number 108 but can be as many as 111, the Bahai use 95, 72 for Greeks and Cabalists and Islam uses 99.

Some Pagan prayer beads are dedicated to the three faces of the goddess, maiden, mother and crone. The number of beads varies but one favorite is three sets of 13 (which totals 39 which, when worked out in numerology to equal 3+9=12 which then reduces to 1+2= 3 - 3 being the number of the triple goddess.) Plus thirteen is the traditional number of a coven.

The most common colors for the Triple Goddess prayer beads are 13 white (or crystal) beads (maiden), 13 red beads (mother) and 13 black beads (crone). Prayers or chants are then repeated on each bead appropriate to that aspect of the goddess. Some put 3 large silver beads between each set of 13 beads and these can be used to meditate on some aspect of the goddess (often smaller separator beads are used to separate the larger beads and not used for prayer). Often the ends of the strand are tied together where an appropriate pendant or tassel is tied on the end.

There are beautiful ones made of 3 sets of 13 blue or purple prayer beds with white pearls used as separators and 3 crystal beads between those as meditations beads. For one color strands...this combination of a color, pearls or silver beads has endless variations. One can make them dedicated to one of the elements, choose birthstones or simply make it out of crystal beads.

There is a 13 bead +3 type of prayer string dedicated to the phases of the moon. The colors chosen were crystal for the First Crescent (Maiden), white for the Bright Moon (Mother) and black for the Dark Moon (Crone). It ends with a silky black tassel and is quite striking in its simplicity.

There are also expensive and breathtakingly beautiful sets in the three favorite colors of amber, 13 amber (gold colored for the maiden), 13 cherry or cognac (for the mother), and 13 green (for the crone) with small pearls used as separators and large Jet beads for the meditation beads. Amber and Jet are the traditional stones of a Wiccan High Priestess (who follows the tradition of having no metal in circle.) Amber, pearl and jet are all organic stones. Amber is fossilized tree sap, pearls are oyster excretions around sand, and jet is fossilized trees. The pendant was a large piece of green amber.

When making your own prayer beads you may chose not to use the standard white, red, black colors. Be creative and choose colors that may be more personal to you and possibly even to your training or degree if a priest or priestess.

There are two great earth representatives of the Goddess being the earth and the sea. You can associate the colors green with earth and blue with the ocean. Use white for the sky representation of the goddess - the moon. So, white for the maiden (also the color of so many maiden goddesses representing the full moon), blue for the mother (the ocean which gave birth to all life) and green for the matron (crone) also the color of north, death, the ancestors and sage wisdom. Your choice for the beads may include snow quartz, sodalite and malachite.

You can decide what colors and prayers are most appropriate for you, using those symbols and words that evoke the most sincere or focused attention on the goddess as you see her...which is the primary purpose of Pagan Prayer Beads after all.

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Bringing Autumn Magic In

Adapted from Witch in the Kitchen, by Cait Johnson

There's nothing more luscious than inviting nature indoors in the Fall: the brilliant colors of Autumn make our homes feel deliciously warm and cozy as the weather turns cooler. Changing leaves, swags of grapevine, and vibrantly-colored apples and squashes make gorgeous, inexpensive decorations.

Find out how to connect with the abundant bounty and beauty of this harvest season with these fun, easy tips for decorating with nature:

1. Preserve some colorful leaves. You can iron them between sheets of waxed paper, microwave them for a few seconds, put them in a solution of glycerin, or press them between the pages of a heavy book. Then you can apply them to backsplashes, place them artfully in a vase, mound them around a pile of gourds or squashes, or even use them as coasters for your favorite beverages

2. Food is art. Find a local Farmer's Market or roadside stand and load up on apples, pears, pumpkins, decorative squashes, nuts, gourds, and Native American corn. A simple wooden bowl loaded with these treasures makes an abundant centerpiece. You can parade them in a line on a mantel-piece or pile them in a basket. What you don't eat, you can enjoy looking at.

3. Other treasures. Bring in grapevines to twine along the countertops, or make wreaths for doors or cabinets (see our article onmaking your own Inner Harvest Wreath). If you live in an area wherebittersweet is not a protected plant, harvest some to put in an earthen vase. Corn shocks are traditional to stand beside a door, but broom corn makes a beautiful and less usual alternative with its graceful russet fronds.

4. Beeswax candles. The amber color and honey-sweet aroma of these safe, all-natural candles just evoke the golden glow of autumn. As the days get shorter, it can be a soothing ritual to burn a beeswax candle at dusk.

5. Echo Fall colors. Bring in the Autumn hues of russet-red, vibrant shades of orange, deep greens, mellow golds, wine-reds, and vivid scarlet with cushions, towels, scatter-rugs, or other decorative accents. My family has a brightly-colored autumn leaf potholder and a set of pumpkin-shaped mugs that we use with pleasure year after year. Find the simple treasures your

family will enjoy.

6. Try this creative and relaxing Leaf Meditation. Find a perfect autumn leaf and spend some time really looking at it, noticing the variations in color and shape. Trace its outline on a piece of paper, then try your hand at coloring it in with colored pencils, markers, or paints. Slowing down and taking time to savor the beauty of something as simple and commonplace

as a leaf opens our eyes and hearts to nature's magical variety. You may want to cut your colored leaf out and glue it on the cover of a journal to keep you company throughout the autumn months. Or do several leaves to decorate your cabinets or walls!

7. Think water. Western European traditions often associate Autumn with the element of water, since it is a time of deep feeling and flowing away: birds migrate, trees shed their leaves. Honor this ancient idea with a bowl of water in a special place. Notice how water evaporates. As you refill your bowl throughout the autumn months, give a little thought to your own

feelings, and the things that you are in the process of releasing from your life.

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The information provided here was forwarded some time ago with no author or credit given. If you know the author please contact us and we will give appropriate credits.

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Crafts & Crafting

Volume I Issue 4

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